Tafseer of Sheba · Saba · 34:11
[Commanding him], "Make full coats of mail and calculate [precisely] the links, and work [all of you] righteousness. Indeed I, of what you do, am Seeing."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His statement: أَنِ اعْمَلْ سَابِغَاتٍ ("that he should make full [coats of mail]"). He says: and We commanded him to make full coats of mail; these are the complete, perfect cuirasses.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: أَنِ اعْمَلْ سَابِغَاتٍ ("that he should make full [coats of mail]"): cuirasses. The first to make them was Dāwūd; before that they were merely plates.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement أَنِ اعْمَلْ سَابِغَاتٍ ("that he should make full [coats of mail]"): the sābighāt are the iron cuirasses.
And His statement: وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"). The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the sard. Some of them said: the sard is the rivet of the rings of the cuirass.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: he made them without fire and did not strike them with iron, and then he joined them together. And the sard are the rivets that are in the rings.
And others said: it is rather the rings themselves.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: the sard are its rings, that is to say: apply measure in those rings. He said: and the poet said:
"The weaver excelled in its forging and made it wide."
He said: he means: he made it wide and made its rings excellent.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he means by the sard: the piercing of the cuirasses, so that the rivet of it closes the opening.
And some of the scholars of the Arabic language said: one says "a forged cuirass" (dirʿ masrūda) when its rings are fastened with rivets. He cited in support of his statement the verse of the poet:
"And upon them both were two forged [cuirasses], which Dāwūd completed, or a maker of full cuirasses, Tubbaʿ."
And it has been said: Allah said to Dāwūd وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging") only because before that they were plates.
* Mention of who said that:
Naṣr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Qays related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: they were plates, and he was commanded to forge them together into rings. And He meant by His statement وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"): apply measure in the rivets in the rings of the cuirasses, so that it is in the right proportion: do not make the rivet too thick and the ring too narrow, whereby the ring breaks; and do not make the ring too wide and the rivets too small, and strike them fine, whereby they come loose in the ring.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His statement وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: apply measure in the rivets and the rings; do not strike the rivets fine, whereby they come loose, and do not make them large. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr said — and al-Ḥārith said: "whereby it breaks".
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His statement وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: do not make the rivet too small and the ring large, whereby it comes loose; and do not make the rivet too large and the ring small, whereby the rivet breaks.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam concerning His statement وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ ("and apply measure in the forging"), he said: do not make the rivet too thick, whereby it breaks the ring, and do not strike it too fine, whereby it rattles.
And His statement: وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحًا ("and do righteousness"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and do, O Dāwūd, you and your family, obedience to Allah. إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ ("Indeed, I see what you do"). He, whose praise is exalted, says: Indeed, I, with respect to what you and your followers do, am Seeing; nothing of it remains hidden from Me, and I shall requite you and them for all of that.
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Footnotes:
(4) The verse is by Kuthayyir ʿAzza ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Khuzāʿī (al-Lisān: dhayl), and its first hemistich reads: "Upon the son of Abū l-ʿĀṣ a gleaming, firm [cuirass]." He said: and "dhayyala fulān thawbahu tadhyīlan" means: when he lengthens it; and "milāʾ mudhayyal" is: a garment with a long hem. And one says: "wa-adhāla fulān thawbahu" when he lengthens its hem; Kuthayyir said: "Upon the son of Abū l-ʿĀṣ … and he made it wide." And "saradahā": he fastened them with rivets, as follows in the testimonies after it. And "al-musaddī" comes from "al-tasdīd", namely that the cuirass is made double, with a warp and a weft (in comparison with the garment that has a warp and a weft); or "al-sadā" is the lower part of the garment and the cuirass, and "al-tasdīd" of it is the widening of its lower part, so that it does not hinder the wearer in walking when it is narrow. This testimony has the same meaning as the testimony that follows it.
(5) The verse belongs to the testimonies of Abū ʿUbayda in (Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 198-a) of the university photocopy, in support that one says "dirʿ masrūda", that is to say: a cuirass whose rings are fastened with rivets. And al-Farrāʾ said in (Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, leaf 261): and He, mighty and exalted, said أَنِ اعْمَلْ سَابِغَاتٍ : the cuirasses; وَقَدِّرْ فِي السَّرْدِ he says: do not make the rivet of the cuirasses fine, whereby it rattles, and not thick, whereby it breaks the rings. And in (al-Lisān: qaḍā): "al-qaḍāʾ" has the meaning of work, and it has the meaning of fashioning and bringing to measure. Abū Dhuʾayb said: "wa-ʿalayhimā masrūdatāni … [the verse]." Ibn al-Sīrāfī said: "qaḍāhumā": he completed their making. Or I say: the meaning of the verse is that they both came while upon them both were two full cuirasses, that is to say: two long ones, excellently fashioned, as if they were of the making of Dāwūd, peace be upon him, or of the making of Tubbaʿ, the great king of Yemen.
